Tamil Tiger separatist rebels killed 51 government soldiers in fierce fighting in Sri Lanka's north, a pro-rebel Web site reported Saturday, according to AP. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said, however, that only seven soldiers and 20 rebels were killed in the clashes near Dharmapuram village after the military launched an offensive Friday. TamilNet quoted the rebels' media unit as saying 51 soldiers were killed and another 150 were wounded. It was not possible to verify the battle details because journalists are barred from the northern war zone. The two sides in the quarter-century civil war routinely exaggerate the other's casualties while playing down their own. Government troops recently captured Kilinochchi, the capital of the rebels' de facto state, and the northern Jaffna peninsula _ the cultural center of the country's ethnic minority Tamils. On Saturday, soldiers captured Ramanathapuram village _ which lies east of Kilinochchi _ while the air force bombed a defense line in the remaining rebel-held district of Mullaittivu, the military said. No casualty details were given. Facing intense pressure from advancing government troops, the rebels are now squeezed into a dwindling territory in the northeast. Authorities say they will crush the rebels and retake their remaining territory in months. Separately, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa discussed how to bring a permanent end to the civil war in a second day of talks Saturday with Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon in the central city of Kandy. The conflict is of special concern to India, which is home to some 56 million Tamils. Rajapaksa told the Indian diplomat that he would deal with the rebels «firmly and militarily as the situation required,» the president's office said in a statement. Menon said India would cooperate in Rajapaksa's efforts to «eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka and the region,» the statement said. It did not elaborate, but India is already assisting Sri Lanka by providing defensive equipment and sharing intelligence. Tamil Tiger rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered marginalization by successive governments controlled by majority ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.
